P S A L M S

PSALM CXVI.

This is a thanksgiving psalm; it is not certain
whether David penned it upon any particular occasion or upon a
general review of the many gracious deliverances God had wrought
for him, out of six troubles and seven, which deliverances draw
from him many very lively expressions of devotion, love, and
gratitude; and with similar pious affections our souls should be
lifted up to God in singing it. Observe, I. The great distress and
danger that the psalmist was in, which almost drove him to despair,
ver. 3, 10, 11. II.
The application he made to God in that distress, ver. 4. III. The experience he had of God's
goodness to him, in answer to prayer; God heard him (ver. 1, 2), pitied him (ver. 5, 6), delivered him,
ver. 8. IV His care
respecting the acknowledgments he should make of the goodness of
God to him, ver. 12. 1. He
will love God, ver. 1. 2.
He will continue to call upon him, ver. 2, 13, 17. 3. He will rest in him,
ver. 7. 4. He will walk
before him, ver. 9. 5. He
will pay his vows of thanksgiving, in which he will own the tender
regard God had to him, and this publicly, ver. 13-15, 17-19. Lastly, He will
continue God's faithful servant to his life's end, ver. 16. These are such breathings
of a holy soul as bespeak it very happy.

Grateful Acknowledgments.

1 I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and
my supplications. 2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto
me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold
upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. 4 Then called I upon
the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
5 Gracious is the Lord, and
righteous; yea, our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought
low, and he helped me. 7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul;
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully
with thee. 8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death,
mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I
will walk before the Lord in the
land of the living.

In this part of the psalm we have,

I. A general account of David's experience,
and his pious resolutions (v.
1, 2), which are as the contents of the whole psalm, and
give an idea of it. 1. He had experienced God's goodness to him in
answer to prayer: He has heard my voice and my
supplications. David, in straits, had humbly and earnestly
begged mercy of God, and God had heard him, that is, had graciously
accepted his prayer, taken cognizance of his case, and granted him
an answer of peace. He has inclined his ear to me. This
intimates his readiness and willingness to hear prayer; he lays his
ear, as it were, to the mouth of prayer, to hear it, though it be
but whispered in groanings that cannot be uttered. He
hearkens and hears, Jer. viii.
6. Yet it implies, also, that it is wonderful
condescension in God to hear prayer; it is bowing his ear. Lord,
what is man, that God should thus stoop to him!—2. He resolved,
in consideration thereof, to devote himself entirely to God and to
his honour. (1.) He will love God the better. He begins the psalm
somewhat abruptly with a profession of that which his heart was
full of: I love the Lord (as Ps.
xviii. 1); and fitly does he begin with this, in
compliance with the first and great commandment and with God's end
in all the gifts of his bounty to us. "I love him only, and nothing
besides him, but what I love for him." God's love of compassion
towards us justly requires our love of complacency in him. (2.) He
will love prayer the better: Therefore I will call upon him.
The experiences we have had of God's goodness to us, in answer to
prayer, are great encouragements to us to continue praying; we have
sped well, notwithstanding our unworthiness and our infirmities in
prayer, and therefore why may we not? God answers prayer, to make
us love it, and expects this from us, in return for his favour. Why
should we glean in any other field when we have been so well
treated in this? Nay, I will call upon him as long as I live
(Heb., In my days), every day, to the last day. Note, As
long as we continue living we must continue praying. This breath we
must breathe till we breathe our last, because then we shall take
our leave of it, and till then we have continual occasion for
it.

II. A more particular narrative of God's
gracious dealings with him and the good impressions thereby made
upon him.

1. God, in his dealings with him, showed
himself a good God, and therefore he bears this testimony to him,
and leaves it upon record (v.
5): "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous. He is
righteous, and did me no wrong in afflicting me; he is gracious,
and was very kind in supporting and delivering me." Let us all
speak of God as we have found; and have we ever found him otherwise
than just and good? No; our God is merciful, merciful to us,
and it is of his mercies that we are not consumed.

(1.) Let us review David's experiences.
[1.] He was in great distress and trouble (v. 3): The sorrows of death
compassed me, that is, such sorrows as were likely to be his
death, such as were thought to be the very pangs of death. Perhaps
the extremity of bodily pain, or trouble of mind, is called here
the pains of hell, terror of conscience arising from sense
of guilt. Note, The sorrows of death are great sorrows, and the
pains of hell great pains. Let us therefore give diligence
to prepare for the former, that we may escape the latter. These
compassed him on every side; they arrested him, got hold
upon him, so that he could not escape. Without were
fightings, within were fears. "I found trouble and sorrow; not
only they found me, but I found them." Those that are melancholy
have a great deal of sorrow of their own finding, a great deal of
trouble which they create to themselves, by indulging fancy and
passion; this has sometimes been the infirmity of good men. When
God's providence makes our condition bad let us not by our own
imprudence make it worse. [2.] In his trouble he had recourse to
God by faithful and fervent prayer, v. 4. He tells us that he prayed:
Then called I upon the name of the Lord; then, when he was
brought to the last extremity, then he made use of this, not as the
last remedy, but as the old and only remedy, which he had found a
salve for every sore. He tells us what his prayer was; it was
short, but to the purpose: "O Lord! I beseech thee, deliver my
soul; save me from death, and save me from sin, for that is it
that is killing to the soul." Both the humility and the fervency of
his prayer are intimated in these words, O Lord! I beseech
thee. When we come to the throne of grace we must come as
beggars for an alms, for necessary food. The following words
(v. 5), Gracious
is the Lord, may be taken as part of his prayer, as a plea to
enforce his request and encourage his faith and hope: "Lord
deliver my soul, for thou art gracious and
merciful, and that only I depend upon for relief." [3.] God,
in answer to his prayer, came in with seasonable and effectual
relief. He found by experience that God is gracious and merciful,
and in his compassion preserves the simple, v. 6. Because they are simple
(that is, sincere, and upright, and without guile) therefore God
preserves them, as he preserved Paul, who had his conversation in
the world not with fleshly wisdom, but in simplicity and godly
sincerity. Though they are simple (that is, weak, and helpless,
and unable to shift for themselves, men of no depth, no design) yet
God preserves them, because they commit themselves to him and have
no confidence in their own sufficiency. Those who by faith put
themselves under God's protection shall be safe.

(2.) Let David speak his own experience.
[1.] God supported him under his troubles: "I was brought
low, was plunged into the depth of misery, and then he
helped me, helped me both to bear the worst and to hope the
best, helped me to pray, else desire had failed, helped me to wait,
else faith had failed. I was one of the simple ones whom God
preserved, the poor man who cried and the Lord heard him,"
Ps. xxxiv. 6. Note, God's
people are never brought so low but that everlasting arms are under
them, and those cannot sink who are thus sustained. Nay, it is in
the time of need, at the dead lift, that God chooses to help,
Deut. xxxii. 36. [2.] God
saved him out of his troubles (v. 8): Thou hast delivered,
which means either the preventing of the distress he was ready to
fall into or the recovering of him from the distress he was already
in. God graciously delivered, First, His soul from
death. Note, It is God's great mercy to us that we are alive;
and the mercy is the more sensible if we have been at death's door
and yet have been spared and raised up, just turned to destruction
and yet ordered to return. That a life so often forfeited, and so
often exposed, should yet be lengthened out, is a miracle of mercy.
The deliverance of the soul from spiritual and eternal death is
especially to be acknowledged by all those who are now sanctified
and shall be shortly glorified. Secondly, His eyes from
tears, that is, his heart from inordinate grief. It is a great
mercy to be kept either from the occasions of sorrow, the evil that
causes grief, or, at least, from being swallowed up with over-much
sorrow. When God comforts those that are cast down, looses the
mourners' sackcloth and girds them with gladness, then he delivers
their eyes from tears, which yet will not be perfectly done
till we come to that world where God shall wipe away all tears
from our eyes. Thirdly, His feet from falling, from
falling into sin and so into misery. It is a great mercy, when our
feet are almost gone, to have God hold us by the right hand
(Ps. lxxii. 2, 23), so
that though we enter into temptation we are not overcome and
overthrown by the temptation. Or, "Thou hast delivered my feet
from falling into the grave, when I had one foot there
already."

2. David, in his returns of gratitude to
God, showed himself a good man. God had done all this for him, and
therefore,

(1.) He will live a life of delight in God
(v. 7): Return
unto thy rest, O my soul! [1.] "Repose thyself and be easy, and
do not agitate thyself with distrustful disquieting fears as thou
hast sometimes done. Quiet thyself, and then enjoy thyself. God has
dealt kindly with thee, and therefore thou needest not fear that
ever he will deal hardly with thee." [2.] "Repose thyself in God.
Return to him as thy rest, and seek not for that rest in the
creature which is to be had in him only." God is the soul's rest;
in him only it can dwell at ease; to him therefore it must
retire, and rejoice in him. He has dealt bountifully with
us; he has provided sufficiently for our comfort and
refreshment, and encouraged us to come to him for the benefit of
it, at all times, upon all occasions; let us therefore be satisfied
with that. Return to that rest which Christ gives to the weary
and heavy-laden, Matt. xi.
28. Return to thy Noah; his name signifies rest,
as the dove, when she found no rest, returned to the ark. I know no
word more proper to close our eyes with at night, when we go to
sleep, nor to close them with at death, that long sleep, than this,
Return to thy rest, O my soul!

(2.) He will live a life of devotedness to
God (v. 9): I
will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, that is,
in this world, as long as I continue to live in it. Note, [1.] It
is our great duty to walk before the Lord, to do all we do
as becomes us in his presence and under his eye, to approve
ourselves to him as a holy God by conformity to him as our
sovereign Lord, by subjection to his will, and, as a God
all-sufficient, by a cheerful confidence in him. I am the
almighty God; walk before me, Gen.
xvii. 1. We must walk worthy of the Lord unto all
well-pleasing. [2.] The consideration of this, that we are in
the land of the living, should engage and quicken us to do so. We
are spared and continued in the land of the living by the power,
and patience, and tender mercy of our God, and therefore must make
conscience of our duty to him. The land of the living is a
land of mercy, which we ought to be thankful for; it is a land of
opportunity, which we should improve. Canaan is called the land
of the living (Ezek. xxvi.
20), and those whose lot is cast in such a valley of
vision are in a special manner concerned to set the Lord always
before them. If God has delivered our soul from death, we must
walk before him. A new life must be a new life indeed.

Grateful Acknowledgments; Devout
Resolutions.

10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was
greatly afflicted: 11 I said in my haste, All men are
liars. 12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name
of the Lord. 14 I will pay my
vows unto the Lord now in the
presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his
saints. 16 O Lord, truly I
am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son
of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. 17 I will
offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the
name of the Lord. 18 I will
pay my vows unto the Lord now in the
presence of all his people, 19 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O
Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

The Septuagint and some other ancient
versions make these verses a distinct psalm separate from the
former; and some have called it the Martyr's psalm, I
suppose for the sake of v.
15. Three things David here makes confession of:—

I. His faith (v. 10): I believed, therefore have
I spoken. This is quoted by the apostle (2 Cor. iv. 13) with application to himself
and his fellow-ministers, who, though they suffered for Christ,
were not ashamed to own him. David believed the being, providence,
and promise of God, particularly the assurance God had given him by
Samuel that he should exchange his crook for a sceptre: a great
deal of hardship he went through in the belief of this, and
therefore he spoke, spoke to God by prayer (v. 4), by praise, v. 12. Those that believe in God will
address themselves to him. He spoke to himself; because he
believed, he said to his soul, Return to thy rest. He spoke
to others, told his friends what his hope was, and what the ground
of it, though it exasperated Saul against him and he was greatly
afflicted for it. Note, Those that believe with the heart must
confess with the mouth, for the glory of God, the encouragement of
others, and to evidence their own sincerity, Rom. x. 10; Acts ix. 19, 20. Those
that live in hope of the kingdom of glory must neither be afraid
nor ashamed to own their obligation to him that purchased it for
them, Matt. x. 22.

II. His fear (v. 11): I was greatly
afflicted, and then I said in my haste (somewhat rashly
and inconsiderately—in my amazement (so some), when I was
in a consternation—in my flight (so others), when Saul was
in pursuit of me), All men are liars, all with whom he had
to do, Saul and all his courtiers; his friends, who he thought
would stand by him, deserted him and disowned him when he fell into
disgrace at court. And some think it is especially a reflection on
Samuel, who had promised him the kingdom, but deceived him; for,
says he, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul,1 Sam. xxvii. 1. Observe,
1. The faith of the best of saints is not perfect, nor always alike
strong and active. David believed and spoke well
(v. 10), but now,
through unbelief, he spoke amiss. 2. When we are under great and
sore afflictions, especially if they continue long, we are apt to
grow weary, to despond, and almost to despair of a good issue. Let
us not therefore be harsh in censuring others, but carefully watch
over ourselves when we are in trouble, Ps. xxxix. 1-3. 3. If good men speak amiss,
it is in their haste, through the surprise of a temptation, not
deliberately and with premeditation, as the wicked man, who sits
in the seat of the scornful (Ps. i.
1), sits and speaks against his brother,Ps. l. 19, 20. 4. What
we speak amiss, in haste, we must by repentance unsay again (as
David, Ps. xxxi. 22), and
then it shall not be laid to our charge. Some make this to be no
rash word of David's. He was greatly afflicted and forced to fly,
but he did not trust in man, nor make flesh his arm. No: he said,
"All men are liars; as men of low degree are vanity,
so men of high degree are a lie, and therefore my confidence
was in God only, and in him I cannot be disappointed." In this
sense the apostle seems to take it. Rom.
iii. 4, Let God be true and every man a liar in
comparison with God. All men are fickle and inconstant, and subject
to change; and therefore let us cease from man and cleave to
God.

III. His gratitude, v. 12, &c. God had been better to
him than his fears, and had graciously delivered him out of his
distresses; and, in consideration hereof,

1. He enquires what returns he shall make
(v. 12): What
shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?
Here he speaks, (1.) As one sensible of many mercies received from
God—all his benefits. This psalm seems to have been penned
upon occasion of some one particular benefit (v. 6, 7), but in that one he saw
many and that one brought many to mind, and therefore now he thinks
of all God's benefits towards him. Note, When we speak of God's
mercies we should magnify them and speak highly of them. (2.) As
one solicitous and studious how to express his gratitude: What
shall I render unto the Lord? Not as if he thought he could
render any thing proportionable, or as a valuable consideration for
what he had received; we can no more pretend to give a recompense
to God than we can to merit any favour from him; but he desired to
render something acceptable, something that God would be pleased
with as the acknowledgment of a grateful mind. He asks God, What
shall I render? Asks the priest, asks his friends, or rather
asks himself, and communes with his own heart about it. Note,
Having received many benefits from God, we are concerned to
enquire, What shall we render?

2. He resolves what returns he will
make.

(1.) He will in the most devout and solemn
manner offer up his praises and prayers to God, v. 13, 17. [1.] "I will take
the cup of salvation, that is, I will offer the drink-offerings
appointed by the law, in token of my thankfulness to God, and
rejoice with my friends in God's goodness to me;" this is called
the cup of deliverance because drunk in memory of his
deliverance. The pious Jews had sometimes a cup of blessing,
at their private meals, which the master of the family drank first
of, with thanksgiving to God, and all at his table drank with him.
But some understand it not of the cup that he would present to God,
but of the cup that God would put into his hand. I will receive,
First, The cup of affliction. Many good interpreters
understand it of that cup, that bitter cup, which is yet sanctified
to the saints, so that to them it is a cup of salvation. Phil. i. 19, This shall turn to my
salvation; it is a means of spiritual health. David's
sufferings were typical of Christ's, and we, in ours, have
communion with his, and his cup was indeed a cup of salvation.
"God, having bestowed so many benefits upon me, whatever cup he
shall put into my hands I will readily take it, and not dispute it;
welcome his holy will." Herein David spoke the language of the Son
of David. John xviii. 11,
The cup that my Father has given me, shall I not take it and
drink it? Secondly, The cup of consolation: "I will receive
the benefits God bestows upon me as from his hand, and taste his
love in them, as that which is the portion not only of my
inheritance in the other world, but of my cup in this."
[2.] I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the
thank-offerings which God required, Lev. vii. 11, 12, &c. Note, Those whose
hearts are truly thankful will express their gratitude in
thank-offerings. We must first give our ownselves to God as
living sacrifices (Rom.
xii. 1, 2 Cor. viii. 5), and then lay out of what we
have for his honour in works of piety and charity. Doing
good and communicating are sacrifices with which
God is well pleased (Heb.
xiii. 15, 16) and this must accompany our giving
thanks to his name. If God has been bountiful to us, the least
we can do in return is to be bountiful to the poor, Ps. xvi. 2, 3. Why should we offer
that to God which costs us nothing? [3.] I will call upon the
name of the Lord. This he had promised (v. 2) and here he repeats it,
v. 13 and again
v. 17. If we have
received kindness from a man like ourselves, we tell him that we
hope we shall never trouble him again; but God is pleased to reckon
the prayers of his people an honour to him, and a delight, and no
trouble; and therefore, in gratitude for former mercies, we must
seek to him for further mercies, and continue to call upon
him.

(2.) He will always entertain good thoughts
of God, as very tender of the lives and comforts of his people
(v. 15):
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints, so precious that he will not gratify Saul, nor Absalom,
nor any of David's enemies, with his death, how earnestly soever
they desire it. This truth David had comforted himself with in the
depth of his distress and danger; and, the event having confirmed
it, he comforts others with it who might be in like manner exposed.
God has a people, even in this world, that are his saints, his
merciful ones, or men of mercy, that have received mercy from him
and show mercy for his sake. The saints of God are mortal and
dying; nay, there are those that desire their death, and labour all
they can to hasten it, and sometimes prevail to be the death of
them; but it is precious in the sight of the Lord; their
life is so (2 Kings i.
13); their blood is so, Ps. lxxii. 14. God often wonderfully prevents
the death of his saints when there is but a step between them and
it; he takes special care about their death, to order it for the
best in all the circumstances of it; and whoever kills them, how
light soever they may make of it, they shall be made to pay dearly
for it when inquisition is made for the blood of the saints,
Matt. xxiii. 35. Though
no man lays it to heart when the righteous perish,
God will make it to appear that he lays it to heart. This should
make us willing to die, to die for Christ, if we are called to it,
that our death shall be registered in heaven; and let that be
precious to us which is so to God.

(3.) He will oblige himself to be God's
servant all his days. Having asked, What shall I render?
here he surrenders himself, which was more than all
burnt-offerings and sacrifice (v. 16): O Lord! truly I am thy
servant. Here is, [1.] The relation in which David professes to
stand to God: "I am thy servant; I choose to be so; I
resolve to be so; I will live and die in thy service." He had
called God's people, who are dear to him, his saints; but,
when he comes to apply it to himself, he does not say, Truly I
am thy saint (that looked too high a title for himself), but,
I am thy servant. David was a king, and yet he glories in
this, that he was God's servant. It is no disparagement, but an
honour, to the greatest kings on earth, to be the servants of the
God of heaven. David does not here compliment God, as it is common
among men to say, I am your servant, Sir. No; "Lord, I am
truly thy servant; thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I
am so." And he repeats it, as that which he took pleasure in
the thoughts of and which he was resolved to abide by: "I am thy
servant, I am thy servant. Let others serve what master they
will, truly I am they servant." [2.] The ground of
that relation. Two ways men came to be servants:—First, by
birth. "Lord, I was born in thy house; I am the son of thy
handmaid, and therefore thine." It, is a great mercy to be the
children of godly parents, as it obliges us to duty and is
pleadable with God for mercy. Secondly, By redemption. He
that procured the release of a captive took him for his servant.
"Lord, thou hast loosed my bonds; those sorrows of death
that compassed me, thou hast discharged me from them, and therefore
I am thy servant, and entitled to thy protection as well as
obliged to thy work." The very bonds which thou hast loosed
shall tie me faster unto thee. Patrick.

(4.) He will make conscience of paying his
vows and making good what he had promised, not only that he would
offer the sacrifices of praise, which he had vowed to bring, but
perform all his other engagements to God, which he had laid himself
under in the day of his affliction (v. 14): I will pay my vows;
and again, (v. 18),
now in the presence of all his people. Note, Vows are debts
that must be paid, for it is better not to vow than to vow and not
pay. He will pay his vows, [1.] Presently; he will not, like sorry
debtors, delay the payment of them, or beg a day; but, "I will
pay them now," Eccl. v.
4. [2.] Publicly; he will not huddle up his praises in a
corner, but what service he has to do for God he will do it in
the presence of all his people; nor for ostentation, but to
show that he was not ashamed of the service of God, and that others
might be invited to join with him. He will pay his vows in the
courts of the tabernacle, where there was a crowd of Israelites
attending, in the midst of Jerusalem, that he might bring
devotion into more reputation.